WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

IWU beat CC pretty easily, getting more balanced scoring, now also shooting a bit better percentage.  With IWU's pressure D working its dirt, this team is coming on pretty well.  Still not sure they will make the top four in CCIW but they are looking stronger and stronger.  Perhaps, as Coach Smith has said, they are beginning to gel, get the idea of how they as a team win games.  I'd be very happy with 9-5 in CCIW play, might get them in the CCIW tourney.  Not any CCIW team is really looking dominating this year.  Perhaps NPU playing best so far.

IWU'70

[iwumichigander]

IWU beat CC pretty easily, getting more balanced scoring, now also shooting a bit better percentage.  With IWU's pressure D working its dirt, this team is coming on pretty well.  Still not sure they will make the top four in CCIW but they are looking stronger and stronger.  Perhaps, as Coach Smith has said, they are beginning to gel, get the idea of how they as a team win games.  I'd be very happy with 9-5 in CCIW play, might get them in the CCIW tourney.  Not any CCIW team is really looking dominating this year.  Perhaps NPU playing best so far.

IWU'70

Easily?  An understatement!  When was the last time IWU defeat Carthage by 21 points and emptied the bench? Not since 09-10 with a 28 point win with a much deeper and better IWU squad (not taking anything away from current team). Carthage is struggling this season but by any measure .  It was a needed win to build confidence for IWU. 

[iwu70]

I hear you, IWUmich.  Yes, good to see the Titans finally get the better of the Redladys so easily after so many losses in recent years.  The TITANS seem to be doing better, figuring it all out a bit more.  We'll see when they play WC again, how much improvement we've made.

Let's hope the TITANS make the top four, get their chance at the CCIW tournament.  Anything can happen on a weekend with two quick, back-to-back games.  Surely the style of play IWU uses, makes for pretty fit players by the end of the season.  We'll see if that pays off or whether the IWU rotation is just worn down.

Ehresman surely the most consistent performer for IWU so far this season.

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to NPU's Liz Rehberger for repeating as CCIW Player of the Week. She joins Elmhurst's Mikaela Eppard as the league's second two-time winner of the award this season.

Also, the d3hoops.com folks were unable to say no to her this time, as Rehberger was also named to the d3hoops.com Team of the Week. North Park SID Kevin Shepke noted the honor with a video of Rehberger highlight clips that included some amusingly appropriate theme music.

Finally, here's the clip from this past Sunday's Hoopsville of Dave McHugh interviewing NPU head coach Amanda Crockett via Skype. Non-NPU fans may want to watch it to hear her thoughts about the 2015-16 CCIW in general.

[iwu70]

Congrats to Ms. Rehburger.  Some great performances, great numbers these past several weeks.  No doubt.  Glad she's getting her well-deserved recognition. 

IWU'70

[iwu70]

Sure looks to me like the CCIW women's side this year is not overall a very strong one.  Likely only the AQ making the tournament this season.  Is that how others see it?

IWU'70

[gordonmann]

While each year stands on its own, let's use last year to get a sense for how many losses a team can take before it can't get an at-large bid. Last year there were three teams with six losses that received at-large bids.

* Bethel: 21-6
* Stockton: 21-6
* Williams: 20-6

They all play in solid conferences, similar to the CCIW.

So let's say that 6 losses is the cut off point for getting an at-large bid. There were very likely teams that had less than 6 losses and didn't get an at-large bid, but no one got a bid with more than six losses. And since winning percentage is one of the criteria for selecting at-large teams and D3 teams can only play 25-28 games, depending on their conference tournament, it makes sense that the Mendoza line won't be too far from six.

So now look at this year's CCIW standings. There are only three team with six or fewer losses.

* Elmhurst has six losses so its next one, even if it's in the CCIW title game, will gave them seven. By last year's standard, they would be a stretch to get an at-large at 20-7. Finishing the year by winning 14 of 15 games would help, but it would be a stretch. It's also unlikely that Elmhurst runs the table since they've already lost to IWU and have to play the next two teams twice each.

* Wheaton has three losses, so they could definitely stay below the six loss threshold. They need St. Thomas and maybe Loras to play well the rest of the way so they don't have an 0-2 record against regionally ranked teams. They need North Park to play well enough to get regionally ranked but not so well that they beat Wheaton. But an at-large bid is still within reach.

* North Park has two losses, and their story is largely the same as Wheaton. Their quick-glance record against regionally ranked opponents is likely 0-1 or 1-1, depending on how Chicago does. An at-large bid is well within reach.

So the question then is how likely are Wheaton and North Park to separate themselves from the rest of the CCIW pack so they only take a couple conference losses before the CCIW playoffs?

[Gregory Sager]

* North Park has two losses, and their story is largely the same as Wheaton. Their quick-glance record against regionally ranked opponents is likely 0-1 or 1-1, depending on how Chicago does. An at-large bid is well within reach.

I think that you're underestimating NPU's non-conference record a little, Gordon. Denison is 11-3 and leads the NCAC with a 4-1 record. The Big Red are very much in the picture for a Great Lakes regional ranking. Wartburg is 12-1, and the Knights are tied with Luther and Loras atop the IIAC with a 2-0 record. Both Denison and Wartburg -- they're NPU's two losses -- seem like good RRO bets. And you mentioned Chicago (8-4, 0-1 UAA) as well, for whom the Vikings will be fervently rooting (although the Maroons were drilled by Wash U down in St. Louis last Saturday).

I think it's likely that, among NPU's non-con foes, an 0-2 RRO record is probable, with 1-2 a possibility if the Maroons get their act together in UAA play.

[gordonmann]

Good point. I overlooked Denison which should get into the regional rankings. DePauw normally dominates the NCAC but not this year. Wartburg and Chicago were the other two non-conference RRO I identified at a glance.

[Gregory Sager]

Good point. I overlooked Denison which should get into the regional rankings.

Denison's center, Jordan Holmes (14.6 ppg, 17.6 rpg, 6.3 bpg) is pretty darned amazing. She's one of the best players I've seen over the past few seasons. She dropped a triple-double on Elmhurst in NPU's tournament.

[gordonmann]

Yeah. I gave her a little front page shine last week when Denison beat DePauw.

No offense to DePauw. I really admire Kris Huffman. But it's good to see a more competitive regular season at the top of that conference.

[iwu70]

Thanks, guys.  I do hope NPU and WC play well enough in coming weeks to get into the tourney, into the dance.  Otherwise, surely looks like CCIW only gets the AQ in.  My Titans are looking better, getting stronger, learning how to put games away.  The defensive pressure always does its dirt, unless the other team has a good PG.  IWU putting it to the Big Blue tonight, up something like 27-5 at one point, now something like 29-10 at the half at The Shirk.  Go TITANS!

IWU70

[iwu70]

Titans crush the Big Blue tonight, 77-54, leading hugely early on due to the defensive pressure, to "run and jump."

McGraw 27
Merritt 15

MU TOs - 31  IWU TOs - 12
IWU Steals - 18
IWU Points off TOs - 29 (likely more)

You get the picture pretty easily.

I'm feeling a bit more confident now that IWU is beginning to get some focus, some team identity even as a young team, and that they may well make the top four in CCIW, make the conference tournament this year.  We'll see.  Lots of basketball to be played.  Surely looking up. 

IWU70

[GoPerry]

Wheaton 57
NPU   52

This was a very important home win for Wheaton to get back into first place in the conference.  Once again it was not a stellar game offensively by any means with some long stretches of very uneven play.  I think the loss of Ellie Zeller (their leading scorer last year, 2nd this year)to injury means it's going to be more difficult for the Thunder to score consistently.  Kelly Lawson and NatalieRose Brogan have picked up Zeller's minutes but they won't make up for the lost offensive output.  It seems that Katie McDaniels is asserting herself a little more but she and Hannah Considine might need to consider turning that up even more.  Chantal Meachem found her shooting stroke last night after a few tough games.

Wheaton played the Vikes pretty tough defensively.  Liz Rehberger saw very few open looks and was seldom allowed to take it coast to coast as she is more than able to do.  She still scored 17 pts but 4/17 from the field is not what she's used to- a reversion to the mean perhaps?

An important next 2 games for the Thunder as they go on the road to Elmhurst and Millikin.  They dropped their last 2 road games (Wartburg, Augie) so they need to get back on the winning track away from King Arena.

[wheels81]

* Wheaton has three losses, so they could definitely stay below the six loss threshold. They need St. Thomas and maybe Loras to play well the rest of the way so they don't have an 0-2 record against regionally ranked teams. They need North Park to play well enough to get regionally ranked but not so well that they beat Wheaton. But an at-large bid is still within reach.

Not sure what you're saying here about 0-2 record against regionally ranked opponents(St. Thomas and Loras)  Wheaton's 3 losses were against Hope, Wartburg, and Augustana.  Unless the "they" is Loras and St. Thomas?